Since bring our first Shihpoo home, his veterinarian has been located inside a local pet store. We pay a monthly fee and, in exchange, get free checkups anytime, a free comprehensive exam annually, neutering at no cost, and discounts on other services like microchipping.
Because I am no fan of the subscription business model as a consumer (would love it as a business own), we were in the process of leaving the program with our first Shihpoo when we got our second Shihpoo. We decided to take him to a veterinarian right around the corner. This vet was nice and treated our puppy well, but he did not offer a subscription service plan. It was strictly pay-by-the-visit.
That sounded great to us until our puppy started showing blood in his stool shortly after his comprehensive exam. Another vet visit fee and a big “precautionary” fee for three prescription pills later, and we realized that we had already paid close to the equivalent of the annual subscription fee of our first puppy, and we had not even priced out the cost of neutering yet.
Not surprisingly, we decided to add our second bundle of teddy bear cuteness to the subscription service and kept our first Shihpoo on the program as well.
Call around and find a veterinarian that offers a subscription service. Ask if the neutering and the prescriptions are included or discounted. It may seem like a lot of month out the door every month, but we found it more than affordable after trying the traditional fee-for-service model.
